A powerful system?

Sobanek

I was looking recently for something that would support Dual Xeon processors. Would you recommend any rig with dual processors?
I wouldn't mind something as cheap as possible.
What I need:
2x Quad-Xeon at least 2.66GHz
6GB RAM
ATI Radeon HD5850 / NVIDIA GTX 460 or if not that expensive, something in SLI/Crossfire
At least 320GB hard drive.
And NOT A MAC.

cherryghost

Why would you want a dual processor motherboard? They're very expensive. Evga do a few consumer boards... starting at 600 euro. Other than that it's server motherboards you're looking it.

If it's gaming you're after, or video or photo editing, stick to one processor motherboards. A 4 core processor and a good card like the ones you mentioned would keep you more than happy for years.

Sobanek

It's actually 3D Rendering stuff.

SickBoy

It's an expensive road you're going down.
If it were me and I needed a dual quad core system I'd buy a Dell Precision workstation.

cherryghost

Sobanek wrote: »

It's actually 3D Rendering stuff.

How complex is the rendering? I still think a single quad core cpu is more than enough for any task at hand

gerryR

cherryghost wrote: »

How complex is the rendering? I still think a single quad core cpu is more than enough for any task at hand

Most render apps will take whatever you throw at it so if something takes 1 hour to render on a single quad core it'll take 30 min on dual quad.

If you're doing it on a professional basis then it's well worth it.

I'd second the suggestion for a precision. Expensive all right but once you go down dual socket it's going to be expensive anyway.

Sobanek

I know it's expensive, I just want to know the costs. I do professional video editing mostly but I do need 3D Rendering for this too. But if it's that much of a difference, then what would be the cost for some really good i7-based PC?

SickBoy

Precision Workstation
I think the T5500 and T7500 are the only models that support dual processor configurations.

Overheal

the AMD Phenom II x6 is pretty well geared toward multi-threaded rendering as it is. And much more affordable than a 2x4 arrangement.

uberpixie

Just thought I would price how much it would cost for such a beast if you were going the self build route.

MOBO: £238.42
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Intel-S5500BC-Intel-5500-S1366-PCI-E-20-%28x8%29-Triple-DDR3-1066-1333-SATA-3Gbps-SATA-RAID-SSI


CPU:£776.97 (each)
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Intel-Xeon-X5550-Socket-1366-Gainestown-Core-266-GHz-64GT-s-QPI-8MB-L3-Cache-95W-Retail


RAM: £52.04 each for 2gig EEC Registered ram
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/2GB-Corsair-Server-DDR3-PC3-10600-%281333%29-240-Pin-ECC-Unbuffered-CAS-9-9-9-24

So £1948.78 (x1 mobo, x2 cpu, x3 sticks of 2gig of ram for triple channel)

Which is over €2306 :eek:

So another €300 for a good qulity server case and decent qauilty high end PSU.

And then another couple of hundered for a gfx card and a harddrive and OS of course.

So the guts of €3000. Ouch.

Dell will do you a dual xeon rig with 2.6ghz chips from around 3200-3500 depending on your config.

EDIT: A Westmere 6 core 2.6Ghz chip costs €776.97.....
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Intel-Xeon-X5650-S-1366-Westmere-Six-Core-266GHz-64GT-s-QPI-12MB-Cache-95W-Retail

Dell will do a 12 core rig for €3600+ you could prob build such a rig for €3000

Overheal

there must be cheaper ways to go about what you're doing. I'd suggest running into 3d-editing circles and asking those types of communities what hardware they find price effective. Other than that I suggest a 6-core phenom as the best bang for buck

Deano12345

Overheal wrote: »

there must be cheaper ways to go about what you're doing. I'd suggest running into 3d-editing circles and asking those types of communities what hardware they find price effective. Other than that I suggest a 6-core phenom as the best bang for buck

A pair of Opetron quad cores in a Tyan dual socket board is an option, I believe you can get these in ATX format as use normal PSU's aswell